Science teacher Valerie Jaehrling’s general chemistry classes have been learning how to control the rate of a reaction either by altering the concentration or the temperature of a solution. On March 9, the students gathered data to see a graph relationship, from there you could calculate how much of the solution you needed to have a reaction responding to a song of their choice.

Jaehrling set up an experiment that had four total reactions. The main idea of the experiment, however, is when Iodine and starch mix together to make a blueish-purple color. The Idoine is bound as iodate, where the B solution (starch), is used to chew apart the iodate to make an IO3 ion. When you split up the Iodine and Oxygen, the reaction occurs. Changing the temperature of these chemicals could mess up how the color change happens, so the only variable changed in the reaction was the amount of Iodate added into the solution.

Jaehrling’s fourth and fifth period went different than the others simply because she opened a new bottle of potassium iodate. Each year has been different. In Jaehrling’s first year of doing this experiment, her students worked until they got everything right. The students changed temperatures and worked with how fast they wanted the color change to happen in time with the music.